‘Catch of the Day’ – Darryl Worley – “Rainmaker” [AUDIO]

Today's featured song was released as a benefit for raise funds to assist in relief for those devastated by the recent cyclone in Fiji. The artist was vacationing on the islands with his wife when the storm struck in February.

Darryl Worley and his wife Kimberly thankfully survived the storms that struck the island nation, but Fiji suffered hundreds of millions of dollars in damage and many lives were lost. Worley and his wife, several songwriters and a group of country music fans were there for an event called Tunes in the Tropics when 180 mile per hour winds struck on February 20th.The storm, dubbed Cyclone Winston, killing 44 people and causing an excess of $485 million in damages.

Born in Memphis, and raised in Pyburn, TN, Daryl Worley was awash in music his whole life. The son of a Methodist preacher father and a mother who sang in the church choir, Worley learned early the power of music. Worley would attend the University of North Alabama, earning his degree in biology and chemistry. Before getting his break in Nashville, Daryl paid the bills working in the chemical industry. Like many singers, he got his break as a songwriter, but not in Nashville, signing with FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, AL in 1994.

Worley would work as an in-house songwriter for five years before signing with DreamWorks Records Nashville in 1999. His debut single, "When You Need My Love" would be released in March of 2000, peaking at #15. The song would also serve as the lead single from his debut album, Hard Rain Don't Last, which would also feature the top-20 hits "A Good Day To Run" and "Second Wind". Worley would record two more albums for DreamWorks prior to its 2004 closure, 2002's I Miss My Friend and a 2004 self-titled album. He would also release a 2003 compilation album, Have You Forgotten; these albums would feature 4 top-10 hits, including the #1 hits "I Miss Friend", "Have You Forgotten" and "Awful, Beautiful Life".

In 2005, Worley would sign with 903 Music, a label owned and operated by Neil McCoy. He would release the album Here and Now on the label in 2006, releasing 3 singles with the most successful being the top-20 hit "I Just Came Back From A War", which peaked at #18 on the Billboard Hot Country chart. A second single, "Livin' In The Here and Now" had its chart run end when the label closed May of 2007.

Undaunted, Worley signed with Stroudavarious Records in 2008, but this relationship too would be short-lived. After releasing the album Sounds Like Life in June of 2009, featuring 3 singles, including the top-10 hit "Sounds Like Life To Me". Eager to capitalize on the albums success, Worley headed back into the studio in 2010 and recorded the follow-up album God & Family. The single "Keep The Change" was released in mid-2010, but once again, before the single could gain any traction or the album could be released, Stroudavarious would be forced to close. To this day, the album has not been released. The cycle would repeat itself in 2012, when the single "You Still Got It" was released through Tenacity Records, but before its accompanying album, One Time Around was released, Tenacity went out of business. This album too remains shelved.

With the recent tragedy in Fiji, Worley decided the best help he could give would come from a recording studio. After making it back home once the airport on the island re-opened, he immediately headed into the studio and recorded a benefit single, the song that's in our spotlight today. Darryl Worley and "Rainmaker" is today's Catch of the Day, new music you haven't heard, but you'll want to hear it again.